I accept that every religion is unique. Every religion has its own myths, practices, precepts, rituals, and ceremonies. Nevertheless every religion has a lot in common.

Every religion has among its principles Faith, Effort, and Realization. They might not use those same words, but the principles are the same.

The word Faith to many is believing without proof, and to a certain point it is true. In Buddhism for instance one takes refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha (the Community). When one takes "refuge", one in reality is saying "I believe that Buddha found enlightenment; I believe that the teachings of Buddha will take me to enlightenment; I believe that the Community of Buddhists will help me find enlightenment." The traditional Christian does the same thing when he/she says the Nicene Creed. So taking refuge or having faith is believing without proof that something is so.

Because of faith, we make an effort. I will live according to the Dharma of Buddha or the Gospel of Chris or Vedic Dharma of the Hindus, etc. By following the Dharma or Gospel or Precepts, the devotee or follower of the religion believes that he/she will reach a particular "Goal": Nirvana, the Kingdom of God, Moksha, Valhala, Enlightenment, etc. This effort might take a few days, weeks, months or years; it might take a lifetime. But it is the faith that we might reach that goal what is pushing us to do the effort.

Realization is the result of our Faith and Effort. Realization is a state of assurance that is not a anymore a state of faith, it is a state of clarity that awakens us to a state of profound awareness. I call that state Spiritual Enlightenment; Buddha called it Nirvana; the Hindu Rishis called it Moksha; Jesus Christ called it the Kingdom of God; other spiritual traditions have called it by different names. When we reach this state the name does not matter.

Every day I see how similar are all religious paths. I ask myself, "Why is there so much bickering among the different religions? Why can we not share our similarities and differences? Why must we insist that only our path is the true path?" It is time that we come together and share what is good and not so good in our religions. It is time that no matter what our religion or none religion might be, if we want to bring harmony to our world we must unite in a bond of Understanding, Love, and Compassion (U.L.C.).

Hermano LuisMoriviví Hermitage

_________________"To be united with the Lord of Love Is to be freed from all conditioning."

I guess the trouble is that people look at the dogma of their faith rather than the spirit that gave birth to it. People often do not look at the situation others have been in the past and say that their words must be obeyed because something is written down by them years ago. Those people tried to bring enlightenment to those in the past and the circumstances that they lived in. It is on us to try to bring enlightenment to the situations we live into today. For sure we can learn from the past but just as the spirit of moral progress moved them in past we can be moved by our understandings and our situations of today. We can then come to possibly differing conclusions and ways to find enlightenment and build on the spirit of enlightenment as others did in the past. Our enlightenment may be similar but it may also be progressed upon to a more modern understanding.I do not see this as a betrayal of faith so much as an adaption to modern understandings. Hence we can feel justified to stand against sexism, racism, slavery, and so many things that were the norm of people who wrote things in the past.

I often find that most of the people who feel that they have the only version of the one true God are Christians. I am a practicing Christian, but not a conservative conventional one. I think a lot of times, people in my circles do not know enough about other religions.I can't speak for other religions, for i do not know enough about other's beliefs, but i find myself sometimes discouraged, for i love God, and the wonderful things we are taught in scripture, but then i look at how "we" talk or act towards others, and wonder "are we really living a Christ-like life? What would Christ have done if he had had to confront a situation like this?"

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